Donald Willard Moore (1891–1994) Commemorative plaque, 2022.
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Resource ID
10146
Access
Open
Address
20 Cecil St, Toronto, ON M5T 1N2
Credit Line
Heritage Toronto
Date of Creation
2022
Historical Themes
Program Category
Rights
Heritage Toronto
Caption
Donald Willard Moore (1891–1994) Commemorative plaque, 2022.
Description
Donald Moore was a leader in Toronto’s West Indian community who helped remove racial discrimination from Canada’s immigration laws.
Born in Barbados, Moore came to Canada in 1913, age 21. Like many Black newcomers, he found work as a railway sleeping car porter. Later, his Occidental Cleaners and Dyers at 318 Spadina Avenue became a hub for the West Indian community. Several organizations started there, including the Toronto branch of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
In 1951, Moore established the Negro Citizenship Association (NCA) to end the systematic denial of Black West Indians seeking to enter Canada. In April 1954, Moore led a delegation to Ottawa that included members of the NCA, as well as unions, labour councils, and community groups.
The delegation highlighted Canada’s discriminatory immigration laws, which strongly favoured white migrants, and proposed change. Moore’s work with the governments of Jamaica, Barbados, and Canada let West Indian nurses and domestic workers enter Canada and become permanent residents. In 1962, Canada stopped selecting immigrants based on race, switching in 1967 to a system that assessed newcomers on their skills.
Moore received many awards for his activism and social justice work, such as the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, and the Order of Barbados.
Marker lat / long: 43.6569, -79.395814 (WGS84)